IBK eyes launching Chinese yuan-retail banking in China

SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state-run Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK)
plans to launch retail banking operations in China, with the Chinese yuan as part
of efforts to strengthen its presence in the quickly growing market, bank
officials said Tuesday.

According to the officials, IBK chief Yun Yong-ro unveiled the plan during
separate meetings with representatives of South Korean companies in the Chinese
cities of Qingdao and Suzhou, saying the bank will "file an application with the
Chinese authorities soon to begin local retail banking with the Chinese
currency."
Yun was also quoted as saying in the meetings that "Chinese yuan-retail banking
is aimed at collecting savings from Chinese workers at the South Korean firms
operating in China so that we could expand both credit receipt and extension."
The IBK head said the measure will lead to an increase in loan extension and a
fall in interest rates, the officials said.
The lender for South Korean small-and-medium-sized firms is expected to begin the
new business as late as early 2011.
During the meetings, Yun also said the bank is pushing ahead with its plan to
establish additional branches in Shenzhen and Beijing in the first half of next
year in a bid to expand its local sales network, adding it is reviewing a plan to
form strategic alliances with Chinese financial institutions to use their
computer networks.
The IBK, which has set up five local branches since its 1997 entry into China,
has transactions with 2,000 local firms.
The bank said last month its capital adequacy ratio, a key gauge of financial
soundness, came in at 12.04 percent as of the end of September, down from 12.06
percent three months earlier.
IBK's total assets reached 162 trillion won (US$139.6 billion) as of the end of
September, up 9.6 percent from the end of last year, it added.
The South Korean government maintains a 57.7 percent stake in IBK.
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